April 9, 2021: The Blogger Finds an American-Made Shovel

 

4/9/21: With tax season upon us, wouldn’t you love to pay your bill like a multinational corporation! 

You know you would! 

The Biden administration has proposed that the nations of the world join together to impose a minimum 15% tax on these giant corporations. This would mean, for example, that the tens of thousands of companies “headquartered” in the Cayman Islands would have to start forking over some cash, just like the owner of the Bluebird Bakery, here in Glendale, Ohio. Or Cliff’s Hardware in nearby Sharonville. 

Did you know there are more corporate headquarters in the Cayman Islands (100,000) than there are…actual people (61,944).

 

In 2017, 366 of the Fortune 500 companies had created “subsidiaries” in at least one of the world’s notorious tax havens. Goldman Sachs had 511 subsidiaries in the Caymans. You remember Goldman Sachs? The rest of us, the actual taxpayers of the United States, helped bail their ass out in 2008, when a housing bubble burst and the stock market imploded. 

Other tax havens: 

The British Virgin Islands – rated in 2019 as the #1 tax haven for superrich individuals. 

The Isle of Man – with a  0% corporate tax rate, instituted in 2006. 

Lichtenstein, a nation 62 square miles in size, but home to more registered companies than people, at least in 2018. 

And that’s just a sampling.

 

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SO! GOOD IDEA for the governments of the world to go after the Big Guys who don’t pay their share! The International Money Fund has announced support for the Biden proposal. The G-20 announced support and said they hoped to have an agreement in place by mid-year. Also onboard: The European Union. 

I mentioned the local Glendale bakery above. No doubt the owner pays her share of taxes. As for me, I patronize the Bluebird because they offer fantastic cookies, pastries, and, on Fridays, sticky buns that I would crawl down the street to purchase. 

I like Cliff’s, previously mentioned, because when I go there, I can find American-made products bigger stores fail to stock. My last shovel purchase, for instance, came from Cliff’s and made in Iowa. 

Same with my steel dustpan. 

Unlike the plastic garbage offered at Lowe’s or Menard’s, that dustpan is going to last for at least three generations of the Viall family.

 

I should also note that I hate paying for Chinese-made products, and wish we could organize a boycott to force the Communist government to start allowing meaningful civil and political rights to their people.